Tara Goings

The process of making a drawing is mysterious. I work very intuitively and slowly. I can take up to three months to finish a large drawing. There are thousands of marks, passages and relationships, which must be adjusted, emphasized or erased.

I research art history, particularly illuminated manuscripts, for my imagery. Appropriating these sources, I change context and scale, imbuing the forms and their spaces with dense rhythmic patterns and wistful internal light. As new narratives develop, resounding visual elegies are created.

I want the drawings to feel cloaked in mystery, constantly being revealed, expressing longing and separation. Each being attempts to find its completion in another. These souls cannot connect, cannot resolve, except through some intervention.

I draw because I like the variety and quality of line, its directness, as well as its myriad subtleties. The rich black of charcoal, broken up by exposed patches of paper, creates a feeling of light shining through stained glass windows.

Drawing explicitly deals with this darkness and light. At night, perception falters; the stars and the vastness of space create wonder as the psyche opens to the ineffable.

Support for framing and transportation of artworks for Fleisher Challenge exhibition, January-February 1999.